This invention relates to apparatus and methods for extracting juice from a food mass such as fruits and vegetables, and more particularly relates to improved industrial apparatus and methods therefor.
Various apparatus and methods for extracting juice from fruits and vegetables have been known for a very long time with most all comprising three basic steps: forming the food mass into small pieces (e.g., by cutting, grinding or crushing), extracting the juice from the small pieces (e.g., by pressing), and separating the extracted juice from the food mass solids (e.g., by allowing the juice to fall from the food mass solids by gravity).
The two primary parameters for juice pressing are percent of juice extracted from a given food mass and extraction time. In order to maximize the efficiency of the juice extraction process, apparatus and methods are designed in an attempt to maximize the percentage of juice extracted from a food mass while minimizing the time to do so. The problem is that these two parameters of percent juice extracted versus time tend to work against each other in that the more the food mass is macerated into smaller pieces prior to juice pressing, the higher the chance the machine will become clogged resulting in machine downtime which thereby increases the time between successive pressings. Another potential problem is that should the food solids be made too small, it is more difficult to keep them separated from the juice being extracted therefrom. Conversely, the less the food is macerated (to decrease the chance of clogging the machine and to easily separate the juice from the solids) the less percentage of juice is extracted due to the failure of breaking open a majority of the individual plant cells in the food piece which contains the juice. Many prior art apparatus and methods have attempted to balance these two parameters but with varying success. There thus still remains a need for improved apparatus and methods which will further maximize percent of juice extracted while minimizing the time to do so.